A new study suggests that textbooks that miseducate students about evolution and climate change may be in wide use in private schools that receive public funding through voucher or tax-credit schemes, according to Rebecca Klein in a lengthy article in the Huffington Post (December 7, 2017).

"A controversial new state law that makes it easier for Florida residents to challenge books used in public schools could get overhauled next year so those who dislike certain texts could also suggest replacements they find more appropriate," reports the Orlando Sentinel (December 1, 2017).

Florida's House Bill 825, prefiled on November 28, 2017, would, if enacted, require "[c]ontroversial theories and concepts ... [to] be taught in a factual, objective, and balanced manner," while allowing local school districts to use either the state science standards or alternatives "equivalent to or more rigorous than" them.

The effects of Florida's new law making it easier for creationists and climate change deniers to harass their local school districts are already manifesting, according to a report from the Associated Press (November 18, 2017).

Thanks in part to NCSE's efforts, it was a bad year for those who would make it easier to miseducate kids about science, with one major exception: Florida. Signed into law in June 2017, Florida's House Bill 989 allows any county resident—not just any parent with a child in the country's public schools—to file a complaint about textbooks and other instructional materials. Climate change and evolution were clearly among the targets of HB 989.

NCSE's Glenn Branch and Ann Reid's "50 Years Ago: Repeal of Tennessee's 'Monkey Law'" was selected for inclusion in "The Science Behind the Debates," a special edition of Scientific American dated December 2017.